Basket Case
by Apparently Awesome
Summary: I'm completely and totally in love with you. I was falling in love with you. And I didn't realize it. Then I realized I fell in love in a Chuck E. Cheese tunnel.


So this is post three of four fanfics tonight. The first was Behind Enemy Lines (Aria and Ezra). The second was Falling In (Spencer and Toby), and this one, my favorite, is Basket Case. Adore, an Emily and Maya fanfic, will be posted next!

I thought for sure Falling In would be my favorite, or Adore, but this one is my absolute favorite. It's based of the song by Sara Bareilles, also titled Basket Case, and you don't see tons of Hanna and Lucas fanfics so I enjoyed doing it. I played with Hanna's emotions in this, so it's a bit angsty and it may be out of character but I still love it! Italicized quotes are past conversations, just like in the others, and it's not a songfic but there's a lyric, maybe two posted before and after the story.

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><p><em>You're begging for the truth, so I'm saying it to you…<em>

Hanna hated him. She hated him so much, but she loved him with all her heart. All she wanted was a friend. One guy friend. She'd never had that, and though before he wanted more, even after a few bumps in the road they maintained that friendship she begged him to leave their relationship at, but now…

"I want more."

She squirmed in her current seat, sitting on top of a table in the empty annex with her back against the wall, boot covered feet firmly planted on the table as well with her hands resting on her ankles. He had his hand up on one of her knees, a firm, supporting grip, helping her get out the issue clouding her mind. She wanted to laugh sadly at how well he knew her. No guy ever really took the time to know and understand her. Not like him. Not like Lucas.

She knew this seemed like the wrong thing to tell him at the time. She'd been emotionally unstable for the past two weeks (because of him, but she'd never let him know), and he'd just broken up with the girl she'd been jealous of from the start. She'd have to thank that skank one day for opening her eyes… if it all went well maybe even apologize for calling her a skank (if only to Emily, Spencer, Aria and in her own mind).

"More?"

He questioned her.

She barely let out a soft sigh, before giving a weak, faded looking smile. When his hand fell to the space on the table between them, she let her head rest atop her knees, facing him with her tired blue eyes. Lucas looked nothing like the sixth grader she'd first met. He was taller, less awkward looking, still a stumbler on words and his feet sometimes, but a different hair style and actual facial hair. She laughed a little. She remembered teasing him about each one of his changes.

"_Whoa, that's more than peach fuzz!"_

"_Nice hair, it's all…how would that skinny guy in the pen striped suit on that show you watch say it… sticky uppy?"_

"_Since when do I have to break my neck to look at you?"_

"What are you laughing about?" he asked, slightly amused, but confused nonetheless, "Crazy girl."

She chuckled, letting it fade into a happier sigh, "You're tall…"

Lucas pursed his lips, "Okay," he agreed, nodding.

The blonde started to sway from left to right slightly, knowing Lucas would let her continue to ramble, "Your hair…"

"Sticky uppy, defying some laws of gravity, though I don't agree. You've mentioned this," he said, still amused.

"You've grown up," she mumbled, sadly.

He chuckled, "I doubt it. I still play Mario, Zelda, and Banjo and Kazooie. Tons of other games, and I like to play in the tunnel at Chuck E. Cheese. You remember that party."

She smiled and nodded a little. He'd still grown up, however, and when most people grow up they grow out of things. Who's to say he still felt the same? And if he doesn't, who's to say he ever will feel the same again? She'd told him it was just a crush he'd had back then, but she didn't expect for her own crush a year later to develop into something that was currently crushing her heart.

"I forced you to come up there with me," he reminded her.

That was when she knew she was in love with him, oddly enough; crawling through a multi-colored tunnel as he raced her to the large matted stair looking things on the other end. They'd both gone separate ways after a disagreement on which way was quicker and met a few minutes later at a four-way. She thought he was the most amazing thing staring back at her; his hair falling over half his forehead from the small sweat probably everyone worked up in the tunnels, the goofy grin on his face, the way the red surrounded him… she felt the strong desire to kiss him. She felt as if he was tugging at heart strings, and that's when she knew.

"_I'm gonna make it first!"_

He enthused childishly, and sped out of his part of the intersection to his left, her right. She felt like she could cry when she realized she wouldn't even be here at his little cousin's birthday party, playing in a tunnel, had his girlfriend not been busy. _Girlfriend_ she though. _Not me._ She took a breath, then took off after him.

"_Not fair!"_

"Not fair at all."

Lucas, apparently staring at something in front of them down the way, turned back to her, a soft smile on his face, "What isn't fair."

"The tunnel race," she said, telling half the truth. It wasn't fair that she realized what she felt when he'd already had someone. Why not before?

"You froze, I took the opportunity presented," he replied, shrugging as if it were natural. Which Hanna guessed it kind of was.

She stared at him for probably the millionth time since she realized she liked him more than a friend should. The faded smile faded even more to where you could barely tell she had been smiling. He stared back at her, concern shining in his eyes.

Another soft, sad laugh escaped her lips as she turned her head, resting her chin on her left knee as she stared into space.

"I'm just a basket case."

"Hanna-"

"I don't want to talk about it."

_To you. I don't want to talk about it to you._ She thought but didn't say. Those pep talks with the girls weren't doing wonders at the moment. She could feel the tears well in her eyes, but blinked them away. She could feel his eyes on her still, and that made her take a shaky breath.

"I'm in love," she mumbled emotionally, "with a guy… who probably doesn't even love me back."

She felt his arm come up around her shoulder and leaned into him somewhat, still refusing to let tears stream down her face. She turned her head to the right, the back of her head resting against his chest and shoulder.

"That sucks."

He mumbled, and it sounded so him. So Lucas… She laughed, bringing a hand up to wipe away the few tears that just barely escaped.

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"I've been in a similar situation before, remember?"

Though he thought he was lightening the mood, brining up their past, it really cut like a knife. Tears streamed down her face freely now. Her before stance now seemed so… past tense.

"It worked out well for us," he reminded her, "You're my best friend."

Now her stance seemed final. She was a friend. Nothing more.

"Yeah… best friend."

He rubbed her shoulder in a comforting manner and it helped a little. It gave her the steady ground she needed to speak again.

"I should've seen it sooner."

"Seen what?"

"That I was falling in love with him."

She barely heard him lick his lips before replying.

"What makes you think he won't return you feelings?"

"Because he felt it first. I rejected him. I said I just wanted to be friends and now… after everything we've been through, I'm completely and totally in love with you. I was falling in love with you. And I didn't realize it. Then I realized I fell in love in a Chuck E. Cheese tunnel."

She sat up and wiped a few tears away. She chose not to look at him yet, knowing he was piecing everything she'd thrown on him together.

"Look at me."

She slowly turned to look at him. He'd moved so he could face her better, his right knee against the wall and right foot behind his left. The arm that was resting on top of his left knee extended towards her and his fingertips brushed blonde hair from her face. He let his hand cup her cheek, and wipe a few tears away from underneath her red eyes with his thumb.

"You, Hanna Marin, are indeed a basket case."

He leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss.

_I'm just a basket case without you…_

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><p>The Chuck E. Cheese tunnel thing just kinda came to me, and the song <strong>is<strong> called Basket Case, lol. Coincidentally, I was playing in a Chuck E. Cheese in the tunnel a couple of days ago. I took my now 1 year old cousin in there then slid down the slide with him and played in there by myself. Yes, I'll be 20 next month... so. A waitress at a restaurant asked my mom and grams if I was 11 cause I would get discount... still upset about that, but I'm thinking of having my 20th or 21st birthday at Chuck E. Cheese. Just to say I did it. I would be proud to tell that story. I'm dead serious too.


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